IM5 


UC-NRLF 


$B    71    SD7 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION 


Bureau  of  Research  in  Education 


Studies  4,  5,  6,  7. 


APPLICATIONS  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 
TO  EDUCATION 


EDITED   BY 

J.  V.   BREITWIESER 


4.  Modoc  County  Mental  Survey.    Frederick  J.  Adams. 

5.  False  Definition  Test  in  Seventh  and  Eighth  Grades.    Adele  Bischoff. 

6.  Training  for  Rapid  Reading.    J.  V.  Breitwieser. 

7.  A  Study  of  Individual  Retests.    Elise  H.  Martens. 


MAY,   1922 
Price  25  Cents 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DEPARTMENT   OF   EDUCATION 

BUREAU  OF  RESEARCH  STUDIES 


The  Bureau  of  Researcli  of  the  Department  of  Education  of  the  University 
of  California  publishes  from  time  to  time  the  results  of  investigations,  discus- 
sions of  educational  issues,  and  similar  matters.  These  Studies  are  for  sale  at 
indicated  prices  by  the  University  of  California  Press,  Berkeley,  California. 
Payment  must  accompany  the  order  if  price  is  One  Dollar  or  less. 

1.  Mead,  Cyrus  D.    Measuring  Class  Room  Products  in  Berkeley $  .50 

2.  Hart,  Frank  W.    A  School  Building  Survey  and  Schoolhousing  Program 

for  Napa,  California ; 50 

3.  Palmer,  Emily  G.    A  Survey  of  the  Garment  Trades  in  San  Francisco 40 

4.  Adams,  Frederick  J.    Modoc  County  Mental  Survey. 

5.  Bischoff,  Adele.    False  Definition  Test  in  Seventh  and  Eighth  Grades. 

6.  Breitweiser,  J.  V.    Training  for  Rapid  Reading. 

7.  Martens,  Elise  H.    A  Study  of  Individual  Retests. 

25 


8.  Hart,  Frank  W.,  and  Peterson,  L.  H.    A  School  Building  Survey  and 

Schoolhouse  Program  for  San  Rafael,  California 50 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION 


Bureau  of  Research  in  Education  Studies  4,  5,  6,  7 


APPLICATIONS  OF  PSYCHOLOGY 
TO  EDUCATION 


Edited  by 
J.  V.  BREITWIESER 

Associate  Professor  of  Education 


CONTENTS 

4.  Modoc  County  Mental  Survey.    Frederick  J.  Adams 5 

5.  False  Definition  Test  in  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Grades.     Adele 

BiSCHOFF  11 

6.  Training  for  Kapid  Eeading.    J.  V.  Breitwieser 16 

7.  A  Study  of  Individual  Ketests.    Elise  H.  Martens 21 


•  ;  •    .  •••••••• 

•  •  •  •  •  •  •••  ••••••*•' 


:3^ 


Of  the  following  papers  the  ''Modoc  County  Mental  Survey"  and  "False 
Definition  Test  in  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Grades"  are  abstracts  of  more 
extensive  theses  written  in  partial  fulfillment  of  the  requirements  for  the  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts.  If  any  one  desires  to  see  the  data  in  detail,  or  to  consult 
the  bibliographies,  etc.,  the  original  theses  are  accessible  in  the  Library  of 
the  University  of  California. 


MODOC  COUNTY  MENTAL  SURVEY 

BY 

FKEDERICK  J.  ADAMS 


In  October,  1921,  under  the  direction  of  Professor  J.  V.  Breitwieser, 
Department  of  Education,  University  of  California,  and  at  the  request 
of  the  county  board  of  education,  a  survey  was  made  of  all  the  school 
children  of  Modoc  County  in  and  above  the  fourth  grade  of  the 
grammar  schools  and  in  the  high  schools.  This  survey  is  unique  in 
that,  so  far  as  the  writer  has  been  able  to  discover,  no  report  has  been 
made  through  the  medium  of  the  various  periodicals  and  publications 
in  the  field  of  education  or  psychology  of  any  other  attempt  to  apply 
standardized  tests  to  entire  counties  of  the  isolated  rural  type. 

Modoc  County  is  the  most  northeastern  county  in  California,  having 
an  area  of  3823  square  miles  with  a  population  according  to  the  census 
of  1920  of  1.4  persons  per  square  mile,  a  decrease  of  12.4  per  cent  in 
population  below  the  census  of  1910.  The  county  is  divided  into  three 
valleys  separated  by  high  ranges;  the  chief  means  of  communication 
with  the  outside  world  is  by  way  of  a  narrow  gauge  railroad  running 
into  the  most  eastern  of  the  valleys,  which  maintains  passenger  service 
three  times  a  week.  The  chief  occupations  of  the  inhabitants  of  this 
region  are  sheep  raising,  the  cultivation  of  a  few  orchards,  and  the 
growing  of  a  few  vshort-season  crops. 

The  survey  applies  to  children  chiefly  of  American  stock,  as  there 
are  very  few  foreigners  in  the  county,  and  the  Indian  children  were 
not  tested.    The  children  were  distributed  in  the  schools  as  follows : 

Course 

3  Union  high  schools 4  years 

1  Branch  high  school 2  years 

1  Branch  high  school 2  years 

Total  high  school  pupils 229 

1  Graded  grammar  school 8  grades  7  109 

1  .Graded  grammar  school 8  grades  5  70 

Total  graded  grammar  school  pupils 179 

3  Ungraded  grammar  schools     8  grades  2  62 

35  Ungraded  grammar  schools     8  grades  1  233 

Total  ungraded  grammar  school  pupils 295 

Total  number  of  pupils  tested 703 

47871? 


Teachers 

Pupils 

5 

204 

2 

19 

1 

6 

4  Bureau  of  Research  in  Education  Studies 

In  the  grammar  schools,  the  National  Intelligence  Test  was  used, 
being  applied  to  all  the  pupils  in  and  above  the  fourth  grade.  The 
schools  had  been  in  session  for  a  full  quarter  at  the  time  the  tests  were 
given.  The  National  Intelligence  Test  is  divided  into  two  parts. 
Scale  A  and  Scale  B.  Each  part  requires  about  a  half-hour;  a  recess 
period  of  fifteen  minutes  preceded  each  part.  The  examination  covers 
the  following  kinds  of  tests : 

Scale  A  Scale  B 

1.  Arithmetical,  reasoning  1.  Computation 

2.  Sentence  completion  *    2.  Information 

3.  Logical  selection  3.  Vocabulary 

4.  Same-opposites  4.  Analogies 

5.  Symbol-digit  5.  Comparison 

Each  of  these  ten  parts  is  preceded  by  a  practice  exercise  of  the 
same-  type  of  material  as  the  test  which  follows  it,  so  that  the  pupil 
may  become  acquainted  with  the  requirements  and  situations  to  be  met. 

In  the  high  schools  the  Army  Alpha  Test,  form  7,  was  given.  This 
test  is  familiar  to  most  persons  interested  in  mental  testing,  and  there- 
fore needs;  no  explanation.  The  test  was  given  according  to  the 
instructions  in  the  Army  Manual. 

Upon  the  completion  of  the  scoring  and  the  computation  of  the 
results  of  this  survey,  each  grammar  school  teacher  in  the  county  was 
sent  an  eight-page  booklet  giving  the  norms  for  the  ten  parts  of  the 
National  Intelligence  Test;  by  grades,  for  the  graded  and  ungraded 
groups,  and  the  norm  for  the  county  as  a  whole ;  together  with  norms 
obtained  in  other  localities;  an  analysis  of  the  test  used;  suggestions 
as  to  its  significance,  and  as  to  methods  of  making  use  of  the  data 
presented.  In  addition  to  this  bulletin,  each- teacher  received  a  table 
showing  the  record  made  by  each  of  the  pupils  in  his  school,  bj^  total 
score,  and  in  each  of  the  ten  divisions  of  the  test. 

The  high  schools  received  records  of  the  scores  of  their  pupils,  tables 
of  the  scores  in  which  their  pupils  were  divided  according  to  the 
grammar  schools  from  which  they  had  entered  high  school,  a  statement 
of  the  norms  for  the  county,  the  norms  for  each  high  school,  and  for 
other  localities,  accompanied  by  a  discussion  of  the  significance  of  the 
data  presented. 

The  following  table  shows  the  results  of  the  National  Intelligence 
Test  in  comparison  with  three  other  groups,  by  grades,  in  terms  of 
median  total  scores  for  the  groups  represented : 


Applications  of  Psychology  to  Education 


School 
grade 

Ungraded 

County 

Graded 

Vallejo 

Washington 

Pittsburg 

4 

90.10 

91.1 

93.85 

100 

145.5 

167 

5 

122.80  ■ 

134.9 

156.80 

146 

184.5 

187 

6 

159.05 

167.7 

178.60 

180 

219.5 

224 

7 

191.85 

200.5 

216.20 

237 

248.5 

251 

8 

219.90 

225.0 

242.80 

264 

275.5 

281 

The  scores  made  by  the  ungraded  schools,  it  is  readily  seen,  are 
consistently  lower  than  those  made  by  the  graded  schools,  and  these 
in  turn  are  consistently  lower  than  the  scores  of  the  other  localities 
considered  above. 

If  we  compute  the  per  cent  of  retardation  of  the  ungraded  groups 
in  terms  of  the  average  grade  increment  in  test  totals  for  each  of  the 
groups  we  find  them  to  be 

53.51%  of  a  grade  below  the  graded  schools 
175.11%  of  a  grade  below  Vallejo 
199.93%  of  a  grade  below  Washington 
228.89%  of  a  grade  below  Pittsburg 

This  table  shows  clearly  the  degree  of  the  retardation  of  the  un- 
graded group  in  terms  of  the  progress  of  the  other  groups:  ranging 
from  over  half  a  year  behind  the  graded,  to  over  two  and  a  quarter 
years  behind  the  Pittsburg  group.  If  the  average  grade  increment  in 
test  totals  for  the  ungraded  group  is  taken  as  a  standard,  the  graded 
group  is  63.43  per  cent  of  a  year  more  advanced  than  the  ungraded 
group. 

A  comparison  of  the  two  graded  grammar  schools  shows  the  fol- 
lowing differences  in  median  scores :  ' 


Grade  4 

Grade  5 

Grade  6 

Grade  7 

Grade  8 

Seven    teachers.... 

....     93.85 

166.05 

190.10 

222.10 

241.20 

Five  teachers 

....     91.70 

128.90 

149.25 

212.90 

250.45 

Although  the  number  of  cases  is  small,  especially  in  the  eighth  grade, 
yet  the  results  seem  to  show  a  better  classification  of  pupils  according 
to  mental  ability  in  the  larger  school. 

Because  of  the  small  number  of  high  school  pupils  in  the  county, 
I  shall  compare  the  group  as  a  whole  with  groups  in  other  localities 
without    attempting   to    show    the    variation    among    the    individual 


Sophomore 

Junior 

Senior 

Graduate 

93.0 

87.0 

106.0 

109.5 

(66) 

(45) 

(27) 

(6) 

109.7 

122.4 

121.2 

(296) 

(221) 

(165) 

107.0 

119.7 

123.8 

(368) 

(349) 

(260) 

122.1 

130.2 

137.6 

(327) 

(250) 

(210) 

6  Bureau  of  Research  in  Educatimi  Studies 

institutions  of  the  county.  Measured  in  terms  of  medians,  the  Army 
Alpha  Test  scores  are  as  follows,  the  number  of  cases  being  given  in 
parenthesis  to  the  lower  right  of  the  score : 

Freshman 
Modoc  County 77.0 

(85) 
Madison    96.0 

(314) 

Eockford 94.0 

(500) 
Sioux  City 107.9 

(443) 

The  comparison  with  other  localities  brings  out  very  clearly  the  fact 
that,  in  terms  of  the  tests  applied,  students  of  Modoc  County  high 
schools  do  not  have  the  ability  of  students  in  the  high  schools  of  the 
cities  listed,  the  median  score  for  the  Modoc  seniors  being  lower  than 
the  median  score  for  the  IMadison  and  Rockford  sophomores,  and  just 
a  little  lower  than  that  of  the  Sioux  City  freshmen. 

On  the  basis  of  the  comparison  of  the  results  found  in  the  grammar 
schools  of  Modoc  County  with  the  results  found  elsewhere  by  the  use 
of  the  National  Intelligence  Test,  one  might  draw  one  of  two  con- 
clusions: (a)  that  the  National  Intelligence  Tests,  and  perhaps  all 
mental  tests,  have  been  standardized  and  have  been  formulated  for  the 
use  of  city  children;  or  (&)  that,  in  mental  ability  for  their  school 
grades,  the  children  of  the  grammar  schools  of  IModoc  County  are 
below  those  of  other  localities.  (I  might  add  here  that  the  same  and 
even  a  greater  discrepancy  occurs  when  the  age  norms  are  compared 
with  age  norms  of  other  localities.)  However,  when  one  compares 
the  data  on  the  Army  Alpha  Test,  which  was  standardized  in  terms 
of  unselected  groups,  and  upon  which  norms  are  obtainable  for  over 
two  million  drafted  soldiers,  a  thoroughly  unselected  group,  we  find 
that  the  pupils  of  the  Modoc  high  schools  are  between  two  and  three 
years  below  the  high  school  students  in  other  localities.  I  believe  we 
must  accept  to  a  large  degree  the  second  of  the  above  conclusions, 
i.e.,  that  the  children  of  the  schools  of  Modoc  County  have  less  ability, 
as  measured  by  these  tests,  than  those  of  the  other  groups  with  which 
they  are  compared.  As  we  find  that  the  difference  is  greater  for  the 
high  school  than  for  the  grammar  school,  so  w^e  find  that  in  both  the 
grammar  and  the  high  school  the  difference  in  ability  is  increasingly 
greater.     The  children  of  the  graded  schools  show  this  difference  to  a 


I 


AppUoations  of  Psychology  to  Education  7 

lesser  degree  than  those  of  the  ungraded,  and  the  more  nearly 
standard-graded  school  shows  it  to  a  less  degree  than  the  more  nearly 
ungraded  school  of  the  two  partially  graded  schools;  proving  that, 
although  a  portion  of  the  difference  in  norms  is  due  to  better  school 
administration,  including  the  selection  of  pupils,  yet  the  retardation 
in  all  the  groups  of  the  county  shows  a  consistently  lesser  ability  on 
the  part  of  the  students.  Does  this  not  prove,  then,  the  necessity  for 
the  reception  upon  the  part  of  the  child  of  an  abundance  of  stimuli  in 
order  to  make  possible  the  greatest  mental  development  ?  And  does 
this  not  further  prove  that  the  poverty  of  stimuli  will  lessen  the 
advancement  and  development  of  the  mental  abilities  of  children,  par- 
ticularly when  these  are  slightly  lower  than  normal  at  the  outset? 
Here  we  have  fine  American  boys  and  girls,  not  foreigners,  suffering 
mental  retardation.  In  the  isolation  of  rural  Modoc  County  we  find 
that  the  children,  ''educated"  in  the  poverty  of  stimuli  of  the  ungraded 
school,  fail  to  attain  the  standards  of  their  more  fortunate  brothers 
of  the  graded  school  where  more  time  can  be  spent  in  enriching  their 
experience  and  giving  to  them  more  stimuli,  if  only  from  the  words 
of  the  teacher  and  the  printed  page.  How  much  richer  is  the  experi- 
ence of  the  city  child,  reacting  daily  to  a  larger  number  and  a  greater 
complexity  of  stimuli,  thus  being  enabled  to  develop  his  inherent 
mental  ability  to  a  very  much  greater  degree  than  the  child  dwelling 
in  the  mental  poverty  of  the  ungraded  school  of  the  isolated  com- 
munity !  Is  there  a  greater  argument  for  an  enriched  curriculum,  or 
for  the  consolidation  of  schools  than  the  story  told  by  this  survey  ? 


FALSE  DEFINITION  TEST  IN  THE  SEVENTH  AND 
EIGHTH  GRADES 


BY 

ADELE  BISCHOFF 


Only  within  recent  years  has  size  of  an  individuaPs  vocabulary 
ceased  to  be  merely  a  matter  of  speculation  and  become  the  subject 
of  scientific  investigation.  No  doubt  the  growing  belief  among 
psychologists  that  size  of  vocabulary  and  general  intelligence  were  to 
some  extent  related  led  to  an  interest  in  the  subject. 

The  general  and  most  satisfactory  method  to  determine  the  vocabu- 
laries of  children  of  five  years  has  been  to  record  all  the  words  used 
by  the  child  during  a  period  of,  say,  five  to  eight  weeks.  Obviously 
this  plan  is  less  feasible  for  older  children  since  they  know  a  great 
number  of  words  which  they  may  not  use  in  ordinary  conversation. 
Generally,  therefore,  the  older  children  have  been  tested  by  requiring 
them  to  give  oral  or  written  definitions  of  a  list  of  words  selected  at 
random  from  the  dictionary. 

A  decided  departure  from  the  foregoing  type  of  vocabulary  test 
is  the  False  Definition  Test,  formulated  in  1915  at  Colorado  College 
by  Fred  M.  Gerlach  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  J.  V.  Breitwieser.  They 
chose  a  list  of  one  thousand  words  at  regular  intervals  from  the  Funk 
and  Wagnall's  New  Standard  Dictionary ^  which  contained  approxi- 
mately 375,000  words. 

Four  hundred  of  the  thousand  words  which  were  considered  un- 
familiar to  the  average  person  were  placed  in  a  second  list.  For  the 
remaining  six  hundred  they  devised  four  definitions,  of  which  only  one 
was  right  and  three  wrong.  The  subject  was  to  check  the  right 
definition  of  know^n  words.  In  the  list  of  four  hundred  unfamiliar 
words,  the  subject  was  asked  to  compose  definitions  of  the  words 
which  he  knew. 

The  False  Definition  Test  has  three  decided  advantages  over  other 
types  of  vocabulary  tests.  First,  the  personal  equation  in  scoring  is 
entirely  eliminated,  whereas,  in  a  test  which  requires  the  subject  to 
devise  definitions,  quality  as  well  as  quantitj^  has  to  be  considered,  for 
definitions  are  of  different  grades  of  correctness.    Second,  the  fact  that 


10  Bureau  of  Research  in  Education  Studies 

a  child's  expression  lags  behind  his  understanding  need  not  be  con- 
sidered. We  are  all  at  a  disadvantage  in  defining  words,  the  child 
doubly  so,  even  although  we  may  understand  the  ideas  they  represent. 
The  third  advantage  lies  in  the  larger  size  of  the  dictionary  used  as 
the  source  of  the  word  list.  Bonser's^  tests  at  Speyer  School  show  an 
average  vocabulary  three  times  the  size  of  that  found  by  Kirkpatrick' 
for  the  same  grades.  Bonser  used  a  dictionary  of  about  44,000  words 
while  Kirkpatrick  used  one  of  28,000. 

In  his  investigations  with  college  and  high  school  students,  Gerlach^ 
determined  their  average  vocabularies  in  terms  of  the  False  Definition 
Test,  and  also  analyzed  the  relation  of  size  of  individual  vocabulary 
to  scholastic  status  and  sex.  The  present  article  presents  an  investi- 
gation with  the  same  test  upon  155  subjects  selected  at  random  from 
the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  of  the  Burbank,  Edison,  Garfield,  and 
Willard  Junior  High  Schools  of  Berkeley,  California.  The  subjects 
comprised  approximately  an  equal  number  of  boys  and  girls  represent- 
ing an  average  scholarship  of  one,  two,  and  three. 

To  secure  the  vocabulary  index  (V.  I.)  of  each  individual  subject 
the  total  number  of  words  having  the  correct  definition  checked  was 
ascertained;  from  this  one-third  of  the  number  having  a  wrong 
definition  checked  was  deducted  in  order  to  allow  for  chance  and 
guessing.  The  average  grade  (Av.  G.)  indicates  the  average  scholar- 
ship or  mark  in  class  work  for  the  year. 

The  first  four  tables,  showing  an  average  V.I.  of  211.2  for  high 
eighth,  192.7  for  low  eighth,  164.8  for  high  seventh,  and  152.4  for  low 
seventh,  indicate  a  definite  relation  between  vocabulary  and  scholastic 
status.  A  similar  relationship  can  be  seen  from  the  following  medians : 
218  for  high  eighth,  191  for  low  eighth,  160.5  for  high  seventh  and 
160  for  low  seventh.  The  small  difference  in  the  medians  of  high 
seventh  and  low  seventh  is  accounted  for  by  the  mean  variations  of 
39.8  and  41.5  respectively. 

Although  school  grades  are  not  always  indicative  of  general  intelli- 
gence, there  is  some  correlation  between  them.  In  this  investigation 
an  attempt  to  correlate  vocabulary  index  with  average  school  grades 
was  made.  In  each  scholastic  group  the  individual  indices  were  divided 
into  three  groups  according  to  size  of  vocabulary  range.  These  three 
groups  were  then  correlated  with  the  individual  average  grades.  The 
resulting  coefficients  of  correlation  were  .48  for  high  eighth,  .54  for 
low  eighth,  .81  for  high  seventh,  and  .205  for  low  seventh.  Although 
the  last  named  coefficient  of  .205  is  ver}^  low,  the  average  of  all  the 
coefficients  is  still  .51.  The  low  correlation  of  the  low  seventh  group 
might  in  part  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  there  are  five  more 


Applications  of  Psychology  to  Education  11 

girls  than  boys  in  this  group,  while  in  the  other  three  groups  there  is 
only  one  more  girl  than  boys.  Girls  often  make  high  class  grades 
because  of  their  ability  to  apply  themselves,  although  their  general 
intelligence  may  not  be  so  high  as  the  boys',  in  spite  of  the  latter 's 
lower  class  grades. 

The  mean  variation  of  each  group  shows  an  interesting  comparison. 
The  high  and  the  low  eighth  subjects  have  almost  an  equal  variation : 
49.2  and  49.7  respectively,  whereas  the  smaller  variations  of  high  and 
low  seventh  with  39.8  and  41.5  show  a  greater  range.  This  would  also 
tend  to  show  that  the  older  eighth  grade  pupils  show  greater  variation 
than  the  younger  seventh  grade  pupils. 

An  examination  of  the  relationship  between  vocabulary  index  and 
chronological  age  indicates  in  general  that  the  younger  pupils  in  each 
group  have  the  highest  Y.  I.  and  the  older  students  just  the  opposite. 
This  is  a  logical  conclusion,  for  the  duller  children  usually  start  to 
school  later  in  life,  and  the  younger  children  in  a  grade  are  nearly 
always  the  brightest  ones. 

Table  VI  indicates  the  influence  of  sex  upon  the  size  of  vocabulary. 
In  each  of  the  four  groups  the  boys  have  the  higher  average  indices. 
It  was  found,  however,  that  in  two  classes  a  girl  has  the  highest,  and 
in  two,  the  lowest  index,  while  in  two  classes  a  boy  has  the  highest 
index  and  in  two,  the  lowest. 

A  comparison  of  the  two  sex  groups  shows  that  there  is  a  much 
larger  mean  variation  among  the  boys  in  three  of  the  groups  while 
the  girls  have  a  large  variation  in  only  one  group.  Perhaps  this  would 
be  an  indication  of  the  premise  that  there  are  more  geniuses  among 
men,  but  also  more  men  who  are  below  the  average. 

The  vocabularies  listed  in  Table  V  as  the  average  vocabularies  for 
each  of  the  four  groups  tested  were  found  by  multiplying  the  average 
vocabulary  index  of  each  group  by  250.  These  results  show  much 
larger  vocabularies  than  those  found  by  investigations  with  Terman  's.'* 
Kirkpatrick's,^  and  other  tests.  As  previously  explained  the  difference 
is  largely  due  to  the  size  of  the  dictionary  used  as  a  basis  for  the  word 
list. 

The  results  offered  in  Table  VII,  (a),  show  that  the  proportional 
number  of  errors  made  in  each  scholastic  group  is  practically  identical. 
Therefore  the  thesis  that  more  errors  are  made  in  the  lower  classes  is 
unfounded  and  the  tests  may  be  used  in  the  seventh  as  well  as  the 
eighth,  and  perhaps  in  the  sixth  grade.  However,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
the  lower  third  of  each  class  had  a  greater  proportion  of  errors  than 
the  upper  third.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that,  in  general,  boys  make 
a  larger  proportion  of  errors  than  girls.     This  conclusion  was  to  be 


12 


Bureau  of  Research  in  Education  Studies 


expected,  for  it  is  generally  conceded  that  boys  are  more  likely  to 
take  a  chance  than  girls. 

This  investigation  corroborates  the  evidence  brought  out  by  Ger- 
lach's  experiments  that  the  False  Definition  Test  would  be  a  valuable 
aid  to  the  teacher  or  administrator  in  determining  promotion  or  school 
placement.  It  emphasizes  the  value  of  a  large  vocabulary  and  points 
out  a  definite  problem  to  the  schools :  how  to  acquire  the  greatest 
number  of  words  which  at  the  same  time  may  be  used  with  maximum 
ease  and  effectiveness. 


TABLE  I 
High  Eighth  Pupils 

v.  I.        Av.  G.        Age 

Total  8236         78  552 

Av 211.2        2  14.1 

Median  218.  3  15. 

M.  V 49.2      ....  .8 

Correlation  of  V.  I.  and  Av.  G.       :  .48 


TABLE  II 
Low  Eighth  Pupils 

V.  I.        Av.  G.  Age 

Total  7516         80  519 

Av 192.7        2.05  13.3 

Median  191.          3  12. 

M.  V 49.7      ....  .8 

Correlation  of  V.  I.  and  Av.  G.  :  .54 


TABLE  III 
High  Seventh'  Pupils 

V.  I.        Av.  G.  Age 

Total  6263         74  492 

Av 164.8        1.9  12.9 

Median  3  60.5        1.5  12.5 

M.V 39.8      ....  .48 

Correlation  of  V.I.  and  Av.  G.  :  .81 


TABLE  IV 

Low  Seventh  Pupils 

V.  I.        Av.  G.  Age 

Total  5944         73  478 

Av 152.4        1.8  12.2 

Median  160.  2.  13. 

M.V 41.5      ....  .79 

Correlation  of  V.  I.  and  Av.  G.  :  .205 


TABLE  V 

Average  Vocabulary  in  Eelation  to 
Scholastic  Status 


Scholastic  status 
High  Eighth 
Low  Eighth 
High  Seventh 
Low  Seventh 


Vocabulary 
52,775 
48,175 
41,200 
38,100 


TABLE  VI 

Sex  Influence  upon  Size  of 
Vocabulary 

V.  I.  V.  I. 

(Male)  (Female) 

High  Eighth 212.8  209.6 

Low  Eighth 207.3  178.8 

High  Seventh 175.3  155.5 

Low  Seventh 156.  149.6 

Total    751.4  693.5 

Av 187.8  173.3 


TABLE  VII 

(a)  Proportional  Number  of  Errors 

Scholastic  status  Proportion 

High  Eighth  .33 

Low  Eighth  .285 

High  Seventh  .328 

Low  Seventh  .33 

(&)  Proportional  Number  of  Errors 
in  Upper  and  Lower  Thirds 

Scholastic  Upper  Lower 

status  Third  Third 

High  Eighth 27  .44 

Low  Eighth 14  .31 

High  Seventh 127  .458 

Low  Seventh 285  .49 

(c)  Proportional  Number  of  Errors 
Sex  Influence 

Sex  Proportion 

Male  .326 

Female  .307 


Applioations  of  Psychology  to  Education 


Summary 

1.  The  average  V.  I.  's  as  well  as  the  medians  indicate  a  definite 
relation  between  vocabulary  and  scholastic  status. 

2.  Correlation  of  vocabulary  with  school  records  shows  a  coefficient 
of  .51.  In  the  high  seventh  group  of  pupils  this  coefficient  reaches  as 
high  as  .81,  but  in  low  seventh  it  is  only  .21. 

3.  Although  the  relation  between  size  and  vocabulary  and  chron- 
ological age  is  not  constant,  in  general  the  average  vocabulary  of  the 
younger  pupils  of  each  grade  seems  to  be  the  larger. 

4.  As  a  whole  the  boys '  vocabularies  are  larger  than  the  girls  \ 

5.  The  proportional  number  of  errors  made  by  each  of  the  four 
grades  is  almost  constant. 


Bibliography 

1  Bonser,  Frederick   G.,  "Vocabulary  tests  as  measures   of  school  efficiency," 

School  and  Society,  vol.  2,  pp.  713-718  (November,  1915).    New  York,  Science 
Press. 

2  Gerlach,  Fred  M.,  Vocabulary  Studies.    1917. 

3  Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  ''A  vocabulary  test,"  Popular  Science  Monthly,  vol.   70, 

pp.  157-164  (February,  1907). 

4  Terman,  L.  J.,  ''The  vocabulary  tests  as  a  measure  of  intelligence,"  Jour,  of 

Educational  Psychology,  vol.  9,  no.  8,  pp.  452-456. 


TEAINING  FOR  RAPID  READING 

BY 

J.  V.  BEEITWIESER 


One  of  the  most,  if  not  the  most,  valuable  skills  that  elementary- 
training  can  give  the  pupils  is  the  ability  of  rapid  silent  reading. 
Silent  reading  is  a  fundamental  tool  in  subsequent  educational  work. 
Not  only  is  it  necessary  for  the  advanced  student  to  be  a  good  silent 
reader  but  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  important  for  everyone  to 
have  this  reading  ability. 

Many  investigators  have  attacked  the  problem  of  reading  from  one 
or  another  point  of  view.  Huey  's  book,  The  Psychology  and  Pedagogy 
of  Reading,  contains  most  of  the  data  discovered,  and  remained  for  a 
long  time,  and  in  many  respects  still  is,  one  of  the  most  important 
contributions  in  the  field  of  silent  reading. 

In  1921  J.  A.  O'Brien  published  his  Silent  Beading.  This  study 
presents  the  important  conclusions  of  investigations  up  to  that  time. 
Most  of  the  studies  presented  facts  concerning  factors  in  the  reading 
process,  but  failed  to  offer  practical  suggestions  to  teachers  that  would 
enable  them  to  increase  the  speed  and  accuracy  of  silent  reading. 

A  comparison  of  slow  readers  with  fast  readers  reveals  the  fact 
that  the  chief  difficulty  is  inability  to  take  in  or  perceive  a  large 
number  of  words  at  a  single  glance.  The  records  of  eye  movements 
show  that  the  faster  rate  of  reading  is  accomplished  physiologically 
chiefly  by  lessening  the  number  of  eye  fixations  to  the  line  and  to  some 
extent  the  shortening  of  the  average  duration  of  the  fixations.  Any 
teacher  can  easily  observe  the  eye  jerks  or  movements  of  a  reader  by 
closely  watching  the  eyes  during  a  silent  reading  exercise.  The  eyes 
are  moved  by  a  set  of  muscles;  so,  in  the  last  analysis,  the  proper 
movement  of  the  eyes  depends  on  muscle  activity.  Muscle  training 
is  therefore  an  important  factor  in  the  problem  of  increasing  reading 
speed.  This  is  true  only  when  we  think  of  a  fairly  normal  eye.  Some 
pupils  will  always  have  to  be  slow  readers  because  of  eye  defects.  All 
experiments  demonstrate  the  fact  that  we  must  train  pupils  to  see 
more  at  a  glance  or,  in  the  words  of  O'Brien,  to  bring  about  a  ''mw^ 
effective  utilization  of  the  perceptual  span." 


16  Bureau  of  Research  in  Education  Studies 

The  pedagogical  problem  now  becomes  one  of  method.  How  can  the 
perceptual  span  be  more  effectively  utilized? 

Javal  (Emile  Javal,  ''Sur  la  physiologic  de  la  lecture,"  Annales 
d'Oculisiique,  1878-79)  showed  that  the  upper  half  of  the  line  was  the 
most  important  in  reading:  The  fixation  point  moves  along  between 
the  middle  and  the  top  of  the  small  letters.  This  fact  can  easily  be 
demonstrated  to  students  by  placing  a  card  over  the  lower  halves  of 
words  and  noting  the  number  that  can  be  identified.  ^\-hen  a  card  is 
placed  over  the  upper  halves  of  the  letters  very  few  words  can  be 
identified.  "When  their  attention  is  called  to  this  fact,  students  can 
often  reduce  the  amount  of  eye  travel  per  line. 

A  second  means  of  training  for  rapid  reading  is  to  create  the  habit 
of  looking  for  large  units  in  going  over  the  reading  material.  This 
can  be  done  by  first  presenting  short  sentences  and  always  having 
them  reproduced  as  a  whole.  If  the  habit  of  reproducing  words  is 
formed  there  is  grave  danger  of  reading  by  identifying  words  merely 
w^th  an  QVQ  fixation  for  each  word.  As  power  is  gained  in  recognizing 
groups  of  words,  these  word  groups  should  be  increased  in  length. 
Always  insist  that  as  nearlj^  as  possible  the  whole  group  be  taken  in  at 
one  glance. 

A  third  factor  is  the  actual  visual  span.  More  space  on  a  line  can 
be  seen  if  the  book  is  held  farther  away  from  the  eyes.  Unfortunately 
a  young  reader  usually  holds  his  book  too  near  to  his  eyes,  and  he 
emphasizes  this  evil  when  he  comes  to  a  hard  word  by  jerking  his  book 
up  closely  to  his  eyes.  If  the  word  is  a  long  one  he  can  see  it  as  a 
whole  more  easily  by  holding  the  book  farther  away.  Students  should 
therefore  be  encouraged  to  form  the  habit  of  holding  the  book  farther 
away,  thus  increasing  the  visual  span.  This  habit  will  also  save  the 
eyes  from  an  early  and  excessive  strain  that  often  leads  to  myopia  or 
nearsightedness. 

Finally,  as  a  fourth  point  in  training  for  rapid  reading,  there  is 
the  possibility  of  pacing  the  eye  movements  much  as  we  pace  a  runner 
or  a  typist.  This  point  has  not  been  made  before  in  the  literature  on 
reading  and  is  based  on  a  series  of  experiments  conducted  in  1917  and 
1918  and  reported  in  an  unpublished  ]\Iaster  of  Arts  thesis  by  ]\Iartin 
Fereshetian  of  Colorado  College.  Mr.  Fereshetian,  after  numerous 
conferences  with  the  writer,  conceived  the  idea  of  constructing  a  piece 
of  apparatus  that  would  expose  a  page  of  reading  matter,  a  line  at  a 
time,  at  varying  rates.  He  mounted  an  endk^ss  belt  on  two  pulleys. 
This  belt  had  slits  in  it  that  were  just  the  size  of  the  line  of  reading 
matter  used.  As  the  belt  rotated  it  exposed  the  lines  successively  from 
top  to  bottom  and  from  left  to  right.     The  pulleys  or  cylinders  were 


AppUcations  of  Psychology  to  Education  17 

driven  by  means  of  a  phonograph  motor,  the  speed  of  which  could  be 
regulated.  Subjects  were  comfortably  seated  at  the  usual  reading  dis- 
tance from  the  apparatus,  and  the  belt  run  at  a  rate  that  corresponded 
to  the  reading  rate.  In  successive  experiments  the  rate  of  exposure 
was  increased  so  as  to  make  it  necessary  to  increase  the  reading  rate 
if  the  subject  expected  to  gather  all  the  thought.  The  reading  material 
was  standardized  and  the  subjects  constantly  questionsd  as  to  the 
content  of  the  exposed  pages.  The  idea  was  that  the  subject,  if 
crowded  or  forced  mechanically^  would  get  the  feel  of  more  rapid 
reading,  much  like  the  idea  behind  the  ''pacing"  of  a  racehorse,  a 
sprinter,  or  a  group  of  typewriting  students. 

The  results  proved  this  theory  to  be  correct.  In  sixty  cases  the 
average  gain  in  reading  time  was  33%  per  cent.  Some  slow  readers 
gained  as  high  as  53  per  cent,  i.e.,  they  were  able  to  read  53  per  cent 
of  additional  material  in  the  same  length  of  time.  Silent  reading  tests 
further  demonstrated  that  this  faster  reading  rate  was  carried  over 
into  reading  material  not  exposed  in  the  machine.  One  college  pro- 
fessor remarked,  "I  never  before  felt  just  what  it  means  to  read 
rapidly."  It  was  also  noted  that  students  tended  to  throw  their  heads 
back  or  away  from  the  apparatus  when  it  began  to  run  faster,  and 
that  there  was  a  tendency  to  reduce  head  and  lip  movements. 

Practically  this  same  pacing  effect  can  be  produced  by  sliding  a 
slotted  cardboard  screen  over  a  line.  A  large  demonstration  card  of 
this  kind  can  be  used  before  classes.  A  reader  getting  the  "feel"  or 
''set"  of  rapid  reading  could  then  easily  carry  it  over  into  all  his 
reading.  A  game  of  "name  the  words"  may  be  organized  where  a 
phrase  or  sentence  is  exposed  for  one-fifth  of  a  second  and  the  students 
try  to  reproduce  as  many  of  them  as  possible — writing  them  down. 
The  winner  is  the  one  who  gets  the  largest  number  correct.  A  drop 
screen  can  easily  be  made  on  which  to  give  the  exposures.  In  this  way 
we  can  artificially  stimulate  young  readers  to  a  m.ore  effective  use 
of  that  important  factor  in  rapid  silent  reading,  the  perceptual  span. 


y 


A  STUDY  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RETESTS 


BY 

ELISE  H.  MAETENS 


Purpose  of  Study 

During  the  past  four  years  a  mental  testing  program  has  been 
carried  on  in  the  schools  of  Oakland,  California,  which  has  involved 
the  rather  intensive  training  of  approximately  125  individual  mental 
examiners  (from  the  ranks  of  teachers  in  the  schools)  and  the  giving 
of  some  nine  thousand  individual  tests  by  the  Stanford-Binet  scale. 
All  the  test  blanks  are  filed,  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  test  has  been 
made,  in  the  central  office  of  the  Bureau  of  Research  and  Guidance, 
where  a  mental  test  record  is  kept  for  every  child  concerned.  In 
May,  1921,  an  examination  of  these  record  cards  revealed  the  existence 
of  314  duplicate  tests,  i.e.,  two  tests  made  of  the  same  child  at  different 
times.  In  many  cases  such  a  retest  has  been  made  purposely  in  the 
investigation  of  a  definite  problem  connected  with  the  case;  quite  as 
often,  however,  the  pupil  concerned  has  been  transferred  from  one 
school  to  another,  and  the  second  examination  was  made  by  a  teacher 
in  the  school  before  it  was  learned  that  a  test  had  already  been  given. 

The  present  study  is  a  discussion  of  these  314  retests  of  children 
in  the  Oakland  schools.  Of  the  125  examiners  who  have  been  at  work 
at  one  time  or  another,  84  are  involved  in  the  giving  of  the  628  tests. 
This  group  of  84  examiners  is  a  most  cosmopolitan  one,  including  those 
of  little  or  no  experience  who  had  very  recently  begun  their  training, 
as  well  as  the  more  highly  trained  and  expert  workers.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  present  report  is  offered  as  an  addition  to  those  which 
have  already  been  made  concerning  the  constancy  of  the  Intelligence 
Quotient  (I.  Q.)  as  shown  by  retests.  So  far  as  is  known  to  the  writer, 
no  one  of  the  investigations  thus  far  carried  on  has  involved  so  many 
examiners  of  such  different  periods  of  training.  Hence  the  data  at 
hand  will  be  used  to  contribute  toward  the  answers  to  the  following 
questions : 

1.  With  such  a  large  group  of  comparatively  unselected  examiners, 
what  degree  of  correlation  exists  between  retests? 

2.  Given  a  common  foundation  of  instructional  work  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  mental  testing,  how  much  do  further  supervised  training  and 
experience  contribute  toward  the  agreement  between  retests? 


20  Bureau  of  Research  in  Education  Studies 


Analysis  of  Materials  Studied 

Six  hundred  and  twenty-eight  tests  given  by  a  miscellaneous  group 
of  84  examiners  during  a  period  of  four  years  may  be  expected  to 
reveal  many  differences  as  to  age  and  intelligence  of  children  tested, 
as  well  as  the  interval  of  time  elapsing  between  tests.  The  summary 
of  such  differences  follows : 

Age. — Range  at  time  of  first  test,  4  years  to  16  years.  Eighty-three 
per  cent  of  the  children  concerned  were  less  than  TO  years  of  age  at  the 
time  of  the  first  test. 

Intelligence. — Range  of  I.  Q.  in  first  test,  33  to  136.  Range  of  I.  Q. 
in  second  test,  33  to  140.    Median  I.  Q.  of  each  complete  set  of  tests,  86. 

Interval  of  time. — Range,  less  than  1  month  to  3  years.  ]\Iedian 
interval  of  time,  13.0  months. 

Examiner. — A  system  of  training  is  in  current  use  in  Oakland 
whereby  certification  for  mental  testing  is  granted  a  teacher  in  the 
department  after:  (1)  a  lecture  and  discussion  course  in  mental  test- 
ing has  been  completed;  (2)  a  sufficient  number  of  tests  have  been 
submitted  for  correction  to  insure  the  examiner's  familiarity  with  the 
technique  of  recording  and  scoring  responses;  (3)  observation  of  a 
test  given  by  the  candidate  has  indicated  accurate  know^ledge  of  the 
formulae  involved  as  well  as  ability  to  come  into  satisfactory  rapport 
with  the  child. 

Under  such  a  system  of  training  it  is  inevitable  that  numerous 
test  blanks  should  find  their  way  into  the  files  at  the  central  office 
which  represent  work  done  at  a  very  early  stage  of  the  examiner's 
experience  in  the  actual  giving  of  tests.  In  such  cases  indication  is 
always  made  on  the  blank  accordingly,  as  a  caution  against  relying  too 
much  upon  its  accuracy.  All  such  tests,  however,  have  been  included 
in  this  study,  with  the  result  that  in  50  per  cent  of  the  cases  one  oi* 
both  of  the  tests  involving  the  same  child  were  made  by  an  examiner 
who  was  still  under  training,  either  recently  begun  or  shortly  before 
certification.  Without  exception,  however,  the  lecture  and  discussion 
course  in  mental  testing  had  been  completed  or  almost  completed  before 
actual  testing  was  begun. 

The  above  analysis  of  data  on  hand  indicates  that  selective  pro- 
cesses have  been  at  work  in  the  aggregation  of  material  contributing 
to  this  study.  Age  preponderance  is  under  10  years ;  the  median  of 
intelligence  is  less  than  100  I.  Q. ;  80  per  cent  of  the  cases  show  a  time 
interval  between  tests  of  two  years  or  less.  In  the  matter  of  examiners, 
however  (which  is  one  of  the  most  important  items  under  consider- 
ation), there  is  an  approximately  equal  distribution  between  the  two 
groups  of  experienced  and  inexperienced  workers,  all  having  had  some 
previous  class  work  on  the  general  subject  of  mental  testing. 


Applications  of  Psychology  to  Ediicaiion  21 


General  Agreement  between  Tests 

In  general  (except  as  noted  later)  test  results  were  taken  at  their 
face  value  as  records  appeared  in  the  files.  A  large  number  of  more 
recent  tests  had  been  previously  checked  in  the  central  office  before 
filing ;  but  a  larger  number  of  earlier  tests  had  been  filed  as  submitted 
by  the  examiner  after  training  had  been  completed.  Hence  inaccu- 
racies may  exist,  even  in  the  tests  of  experienced  examiners,  which  have 
not  been  discovered. 

Considering  then  the  314  pairs  of  retests,  irrespective  of  age, 
intelligence";  time  interval,  or  examiner,  the  following  general  agree- 
ments have  been  found  to  exist : 

1.  Coeflficient  of  correlation  (Pearson  formula) 87 

2.  Median  difference  in  I.  Q.  between  each  pair  of  tests 6.0  pts. 

3.  Average  difference  in  I.  Q.  between  each  pair  of  tests 7.1  pts. 

4.  Distribution  of  tests  according  to  number  of  points  difference 

in  I.Q.: 

No.  points  Per  cent 

difference  tests 

0-5  45.6],,, 

6-10  31.3  J 

11-15  14.1 

16-20  6.2 

More  than  20  2.8 


Checking  Process  Involved 

At  this  stage  of  the  study  a  checking  process  was  introduced  by 
which  all  pairs  of  test  blanks,  the  results  of  which  differed  by  ten  or 
more  points,  were  carefully  analyzed  and  checked  for  possible  inaccu- 
racies of  scoring  and  age  records.  Such  inaccuracies  were  handled 
through  a  twofold  process : 

1.  Correction  of  errors  wherever  discovered. 

2.  Elimination  from  further  study  of  26  pairs  of  test  blanks,  one 
or  both  of  which  showed  manifest  incompletion  or  other  marked 
inaccuracies  impossible  of  correction.* 


*A  ''complete"  test  goes  back  to  a  year  where  every  test  is  passed,  and 
forward  until  no  test  within  the  year  is  passed.  Over  50  per  cent  of  the  blanks 
eliminated  stop  short  with  8  months  at  the  lower  limit  or  4  (or  even  6)  months 
at  the  upper  limit,  sometimes  both.  The  remaining  tests  eliminated  revealed 
lesser  degrees  of  incompletion  plus  various  combinations  of  errors  which  were 
impossible  to  adjust  with  anything  approaching  satisfactory  results. 


22  Bureau  of  Research  in  Education  Studies 

General  Agreement  between  Tests  after  Checking  Process 

The  remainder  of  this  study,  therefore,  is  concerned  with  288  pairs 

of  test  blanks,  of  which  those  showing  a  discrepancy  of  ten  or  more 

points  in  the  result  have  been  carefully  checked  and  corrected  wherever 

possible.     The  following  general  agreements  were  now  found  to  exist : 

1.  Coefficient  of  correlation  (Pearson  formula)  90t 

2.  Median  difference  in  I.  Q 5.1  pts. 

3.  Average  difference  in  I.  Q 5.6  pts. 

4.  Central  tendency  of  change  +0.5  pts. 

5.  Middle  50  per  cent  of  changes — 5.6  to  +4.4  pts. 

6.  Distribution  according  to  number  points  difference  in  I.  Q.-. 

No.  points  Per  cent 

difference  tests 

0-5  53.8  I  gg 

6-10  34.4 
11-15  5.8 

16-20  3.9  j.  11.8 

More  than  20  2.1  J 

t  Cf.  also  findings  of  other  investigators,  given  in  Jour,  of  Ed.  Psych.,  Sept. 
1921,  as  follows:  Stenquist,  .72  (274  cases);  Rugg  and  Colloton,  .84  (137  cases); 
Terman,  .93  (435  cases);  Cuneo  and  Terman,  .85  (31  eases),  .94  (21  cases),  .95 
(25  cases). 

It  will  be  noticed  that  only  in  11.8  per  cent  of  the  288  cases  does 
the  difference  in  I.  Q.  become  more  than  10.*  A  more  detailed  repre- 
sentation of  the  distribution  of  changes  is  shown  in  Table  I,  which 
indicates  the  positive  and  negative  differences  separately.  The  central 
tendency  of  change  is  here  revealed  as  +0.5,  with  a  middle  50  per  cent 
range  extending  from  — 5.6  to  -|-4.4,  Considering  the  whole  number 
of  tests,  there  seems  to  be  no  indication  therefore  that  the  result  of  the 
second  test  is  apt  to  be  higher  or  lower  than  that  of  the  first. 

Classification  of  Tests  According  to  Age 
Three  age  groups  were  formed,  using  as  a  basis  the  time  of  the  first 
test.    These  groups  are  as  follows: 

Age  No.  cases 

t4  yrs.  to  7  yrs 129 

7  yrs.  to  10  yrs 110 

More  than  10  yrs ^  49 

t  The  division  point  of  7  years  was  made  between  the  first  two  groups  in 
order  that  Group  1  might  include  all  or  nearly  all  cases  where  the  first  test  was 
made  at  the  time  when  the  child  first  entered  school,  thus  bringing  together 
the  majority  of  cases  where  language  difficulty,  or  other  obstacles  frequently 
claimed  in  dealing  with  the  young  child,  are  involved. 

*  Cf .  also  Jour,  of  Ed.  Psych.,  Sept.  1921,  in  which  the  following  findings  are 
noted  of  percentage  of  differences  exceeding  10:  Garrison,  6.0  per  cent  (62 
cases);  Eugg  and  Colloton,  12.0  per  cent  (137  cases);  Terman,  15.0  per  cent 
(435  cases). 


Applications  of  Psychology  to  Education 


23 


TABLE  I 

Distribution  of  Changes  in  I.  Q.  between  First  and  Second  Tests 

(288  cases) 


SO 


10 


J\IW 


ill 


^ 


N 


n 


1*0.   ptB.   18  16  14  12  10 
difference 


8  6 


2  0 


8  4  6   8  10  12  14 16  18  20  22  24- 


Central  tendency  of  change +0.5 

Middle  50  per  cent  of  changes — 5.6  to  +4.4 

Median  difference  (irrespective  of  sign) 5.1 

Average  difference  (irrespective  of  sign) 5.6 

The  results  obtained  through  this  classification  are  found  in  Table 
II,  by  which  it  appears  that  only  by  a  slight  margin  do  the  younger 
children  (up  to  7  years  of  age)  show  any  greater  change  in  the  I.  Q. 
of  the  two  tests  than  do  the  older  pupils.  The  central  tendency  of 
change  in  either  a  positive  or  negative  direction  is  practically  negligible 
with  all  three  groups ;  notice  particularly  the  change  of  +0.1  with  the 
children  above  10  years  of  age. 


Classification  According  to  Intelligence 

Table  III  shows  a  redistribution  of  the  288  cases  according  to  the 
intelligence  indicated  by  the  first  test,  with  the  resulting  differences 
revealed  in  the  comparison.  One  conspicuous  fact  appears  here  in 
our  superior  group,  ranging  upward  from  110  I.  Q.,  in  which  there 
seems  to  be  a  tendency  to  lower  that  I.  Q.  in  the  second  test  by  five 
points.      The  significance  of  this,  however,  is  materially  lessened  by 


24  Bureau  of  Research  in  Education  Studies 

the  fact  that  there  are  only  27  cases  in  this  group.  It  is  still  true  that, 
owing  to  lack  of  sufficient  time  for  the  work,  the  majority  of  individual 
tests  made  in  the  years  following  a  child's  entrance  into  school  are 
concerned  with  problem  cases  showing  more  or  less  real  or  apparent 
inability  to  do  the  work  assigned,  and  it  is  rarely  the  genuinely 
superior  child  who  presents  such  a  problem  for  adjustment;  hence 
the  small  number  of  retests  in  the  superior  group  which  have  been 
found  in  the  files  and  thus  made  available  for  this  study. 

TABLE  n 

Comparison  of  Differences  between  First  and  Second  Tests,  Classified 
ON  the  Basis  of  Age 


Age 


4  yrs.  to 

7  yrs.  to 

10  yrs.  or 

1  yrs.  11  mos. 

9  yrs.  11  mos. 

over 

(129  cases) 

(110  cases) 

(49  cases) 

+  0.5 

—1.2 

+  0.1 

6.4 

5.3 

5.3 

6.2 

5.2 

5.1 

-6.5  to  +5.4 

—5.1  to  +3.2 

—4.2  to  +5 

Central  tendency  of  change 

Average  change  

Median  change  

Middle  50  per  cent  of  changes 


TABLE  ni 

Comparison  of  Differences  between  First  and  Second  Tests,  Classified 
ON  THE  Basis  of  Intelligence 

I.Q.  Below  90  90  to  109  110  or  above 

(in  first  test)  (171  cases)  (90  cases)  (27  cases) 

Central  tendency  of  change +0.5                       — 1.3                       — 5.0 

Average  change  *      5.5                           6.3                           6.8 

Median  change 4.8                           6.4                           6.5 

Middle  50  per  cent  of  changes  — 2.5  to  +5.5  — 7.5  to  +4.5  — 8.5  to  +1.3 

Classification  According  to  Time  Interval 

Once  more  in  Table  IV  is  given  a  redistribution  of  the  cases  on 
hand  on  the  basis  of  the  number  of  months  intervening  between  the 
two  tests.  Again  no  appreciable  difference  exists  among  the  three 
groups,  save  for  the  fact  that  the  average  change  found  for  those  cases 
in  which  the  time  interval  ranged  from  two  to  three  years  is  7.6  points; 
contrast  this,  however,  with  the  median  of  5.6  points  which  is  almost 
identical  with  that  of  the  other  fwo  groups.  The  occurrence  of  several 
extreme  cases  within  the  class  of  longest  time  interval  accounts  for  the 
discrepancy  between  median  and  average. 


Applioations  of  Psychology  to  Education  25 


Classification  According  to  Examiner 

In  the  distribution  made  thus  far,  no  distinction  has  been  made 
between  experienced  and  inexperienced  examiners.  All  were  included 
indiscriminately  in  the  several  groups  formed.  At  this  point  a  definite 
segregation  of  tests  was  made,  however,  into  two  classes:  (1)  those 
pairs,  both  of  which  were  made  by  trained  and  experienced  examiners ; 
(2)  those  pairs,  of  which  one  or  both  were  made  by  examiners  who  had 
had  only  the  previous  instructional  work  in  the  general  principles  of 
mental  testing  and  were  just  beginning  the  actual  giving  of  tests. 


TABLE  IV 

COMPAPTSON   OF   DIFFERENCES   BETWEEN   FiRST  AND   SECOND   TESTS,   CLASSIFIED 

ON  THE  Basis  of  Time  Interval 

Time  interval                                       8  days  to  12  mos.  13  mos.  to  24  mos.  25  mos.  to  36  mos. 

(145  cases)  (103  cases)  (40  cases) 

Central  tendency  of  change +1.2  — 0.7  — 2,0 

Average  change  5.3  5.7  7.6 

Median  change  5.5  5,7  5.6 

Middle  50  per 'cent  of  changes     —4.2  to  +5.2  —6.0  to  +4,0  —6.0  to  +5,0 


TABLE  V 

Comparison  of  Differences  between  First  and  Second  Tests,  Classified 
on  the  Basis  of  Examiner's  Experience 

Both  One  or  both 

Examiners  experienced  inexperienced 

(156  cases)  (132  cases) 

Central  tendency  of  change +0.7  —0,6 

Average  change  .— , 4.8  7.0 

Median  change  3.7  6.2 

Middle  50  per  cent  of  changes —5.2  to  +4.3  —8.0  to  +6.5 

Table  V  shows  the  results.  For  the  examiners  who  have  had  sufficient 
experience  to  credit  them  with  certification  for  the  work,  the  average 
and  median  differences  are  as  low  as  4.8  and  3.7  points  respectively, 
changes  which  are  increased  by  50  per  cent  or  more  in  those  cases 
where  one  or  both  examiners  were  still  under  training.  The  range  of 
the  middle  50  per  cent  of  differences  shows  a  similar  disadvantage  to 
the  inexperienced  examiner.  Such  a  comparison  can  point  to  only  one 
conclusion,  i.e.,  in  order  to  secure  the  most  satisfactory  results,  there 
is  a  definite  need  for  carefully  supervised  experience  before  the 
examiner  is  sent  forth  into  the  field  for  general  testing  work. 


26  Bureau  of  Research  in  Education  Studies 

Analysis  of  Cases  Differing  by  More  than  Ten  Points 

Thirty-four  cases,  or  11.8  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  studied, 
show  a  difference  in  the  I.  Q.  of  the  first  and  second  tests  of  more  than 
ten  points.  The  largest  positive  difference  is  25,  and  the  largest 
negative  change  is  19,  with  a  median  of  14.5  points  difference  in  the 
whole  series  of  thirty-four  tests.  Several  (luestions  are  important  in 
analyzing  this  group,  for  example : 

1.  Do  these  large  differences  occur  more  frequently  in  any  one  age 
group  than  in  another? 

2.  To  what  extent  does  a  language  difficulty  appear  to  have  any 
influence  on  the  result  of  the  first  test  ? 

3.  Does  the  group  include  any  psychopathic  cases? 

4.  Did  both  tests  fully  explore  the  child's  mentality? 

5.  Is  there  any  apparent  relation  between  large  differences  in  I.  Q. 
and  the  time  interval  between  tests  ? 

6.  Did  both  examiners  have  a  fair  amount  of  experience? 


TABLE  VI 

Analysis  of  THiRTY-rouR  Cases  Showing  Difference  between  First  and 
Second  Tests  of  More  than  Ten  Points 

4  yrs.  to  7  yrs.  to  10  yrs.  or 

Age                           6  yrs.  11  mos.  9  yrs.  11  mos.  more                             Totals 

(129  cases)  (110  cases)  (49  cases)                     (288  cases) 
Foreign — language 

difficulty  13  4   .  0                             17 

Psychopathic  cases  3  0  0  3 

One  or  both  tests 
not  fully  complete*  2  2  2  6 

Doubtful  5.1  2  8 

Total  23  7  4  34 

Per  cent  of  group..  17.7  6.4  8.1  11.8 

Eange  of  time  interval,  4  mos.  to  33  mos. 

Median  time  interval,  13.5  mos. 

-c         .  (  Both  experienced:  13  cases. 

Examiners    <  ^  t5  i.u  •  •  ^    o-i 

^  One  or  both  inexperienced:  21  cases. 

*  Of  the  six  tests  in  this  group  it  should  be  said  that  they  did  not  show 
sufficient  incompletion  to  justify  their  elimination  from  the  study  with  those 
mentioned  earlier  in  the  report;  a  careful  analysis  of  both  tests,  however, 
revealed  a  very  possible  failure  in  one  or  both  to  explore  completely  the  child 's 
mentality  at  one  or  the  other  end  of  the  scale;  hence  they  are  listed  here  as  a 
separate  class. 


Applications  of  Psychology  to  Education  27 

In  Table  VI  are  compiled  data  indicating  the  answers  to  these 
questions.  Twenty-three  of  the  thirty-four  cases  occur  in  the  youngest 
age  group;  moreover,  thirteen  of  these  showed  a  distinct  language 
difficulty  when  the  first  test  was  given  at  the  time  of  entering  school, 
and  thus  were  not  able  to  reveal  the  full  extent  of  their  mentality 
until  they  had  received  definite  help  in  thought  expression  through 
school  experience.  In  the  same  age  group  (considering  the  total 
number  of  129  cases) ,  however,  thirty  children  are  included  who  like- 
wise came  from  foreign  homes  with  a  distinct  foreign  influence,  yet 
with  two  tests  showing  a  difference  in  each  case  of  not  more  than 
9  points  and  a  median  change  of  5.0.  The  indications  are  therefore 
that  the  child  from  the  foreign  home  more  often  than  not  in  a  cosmo- 
politan community  has  acquired  sufficient  knowledge  of  English  by 
the  time  he  enters  school  to  enable  him  to  make  a  fairly  representative 
estimate  of  his  intelligence  by  means  of  the  Stanford-Binet  scale. 

As  to  time  interval  involved,  there  is  no  indication  that  the  larger 
differences  accompany  the  longer  periods  intervening  between  tests, 
since  the  range  of  time^in  this  group  is  from  4  to  33  months.,  with  a 
median  of  13.5  months. 

Again  some  significance  may  be  attached  to  the  fact  that  of  the 
34  cases  showing  large  discrepancies,  21  involve  tests  of  which  one  or 
both  were  made  by  inexperienced  examiners.  The  coupling  of  this 
fact  with  the  other  considerations  of  language  difficulty,  psychopathic 
conditions,  and  failure  to  explore  fully  the  child's  mentality  is  clearly 
indicative  of  the  reasons  for  the  existence  of  these  34  cases. 


Conclusions 

1.  The  results  of  288  retests  by  the  Stanford  revision  of  the  Binet- 
Simon  scale,  made  by  a  comparatively  unselected  group  of  eighty-four 
examiners,  give  a  correlation  of  .90  (Pearson  formula).  The  con- 
stancy of  the  I.  Q.  therefore  appears  not  to  depend  upon  the  specialized 
methods  or  personalities  of  a  few  highly  selected  examiners,  but  to  be 
an  objective  factor  contingent  upon  the  accurate  administration  of  a 
standardized  scale. 

2.  The  constancy  of  the  I.  Q.  as  determined  by  retests  is  affected 
by  lack  of  experience  on  the  part  of  the  examiner.  A  preliminary 
course  of  instruction  on  the  use  of  the  individual  mental  test  plus  a 
sufficient  amount  of  carefully  supervised  experience  to  insure  the 
accuracy  of  administration  appear  to  be  necessary  factors  for  the 
attainment  of  the  most  satisfactory  results. 


28 


Bureau  of  Research  in  Educatmn  Studdes 


3.  Only  by  a  slight  margin  do  younger  children  show  any  greater^ 
change  in  the  I.  Q.  of  the  two  tests  than  do  the  older  pupils. 

4.  The  central  tendency  of  change  in  either  a  positive  or  negative 
direction  is  in  most  cases  a  negligible  quantity.  There  is  no  general 
indication  that  the  result  of  the  second  test  is  either  higher  or  lower 
than  that  of  the  first. 

5.  The  degree  of  intelligence  of  the  pupil  tested  does  not  appear  to 
affect  the  amount  of  difference  between  retests.  The  median  change 
is  approximately  the  same  for  pupils  of  superior,  normal,  and  inferior 
capacity. 

6.  The  interval  of  time  elapsing  between  tests  is  not  a  significant 
factor  in  determining  the  amount  of  change  to  be  expected.  Time 
intervals  of  one,  two,  or  three  years  (or  fractions  thereof)  give  the 
same  results  in  median  differences  between  tests. 

7.  The  greatest  care  should  be  taken  by  the  examiner  to  explore 
completely  the  child's  mentality,  i.e.,  to  go  backward  to  the  year  in 
which  all  tests  are  passed  and  forw^ard  until  every  test  in  a  given  year 
is  failed  in. 

8.  The  factor  of  language  difficulty  should  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion in  those  schools  where  this  condition  is  frequently  encountered 
when  children  enter  the  kindergarten  or  first  grade.  In  a  cosmopolitan 
community,  however,  it  is  not  of  sufficiently  serious  import  4o  lessen 
the  value  of  a  general  program  of  mental  testing. 


Principal  References^ 

1  Terman,  Lewis  M.,  The  intelligence  of  school  children,  chapter  IX,  p.  135. 

2  CuneOj  Irene,  and  Terman,  L.  M.,  '^  Stanford  Binet  tests  of  112  kindergarten 

children  and  77  repeated  tests,"  Pedagogical  Seminary,  1918,  25,  414-428. 

3  Garrison,  S.   C,   ' '  Fluctuation  of  intelligence  quotient, ' '   School  and  Society, 

June,  1921. 

4  PouU,  Louise  E.,  "Constancy  of  the  I.  Q.  in  mental  defectives  according  to 

the  Stanford  revision  of  Binet  tests,"  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology, 
September,  1921. 

5  Wallin,  J.  E.  Wallace,  V'The  results  of  retests  by  means  of  the  Binet  scale,". 

Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  October,  1921, 

6  Fermon,  Mar'cella  L.,   Validity  of  I.  Q.   as  estahlished  liy  retests,   M.A.   thesis, 

Columbia  University,  May,  1920. 

■^  Stenquist,  John  L.,  Unrelial)ility  of  individual  and  group  intelligence  tests  in 
'  grades  1,  2,  and  3.     (Unpublished:  includes  data  of -Fermon,^.) 

,8  Collo.ton  and  Bugg, /'Constancy  of  I.  Q.  as  determined  by  retests,"  Journal  of 
Educational  Psychology,  September,  1921. 


*  Taken  from  The  Journal  of  Educational  Psychology,  Sept.,  1921. 


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